Chapter 1 : Preparing For The Cultural Festival

IT WAS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1st, the beginning of autumn - and we were faced with chilly weather.

The months seemed to go by quickly, and in two months it would be winter break. The scenery from my new seat, will it end in the near future? The fact that I felt a sense of regret was proof that the seating change was a good system for me. I didn't know if there would be a seating change next semester, but either way, I was sure the scenery will be very different from before.

"Good morning. Everyone's here, right?" A few seconds after the bell, Chabashira-sensei appeared in the classroom.

The students, who had been busy chatting with each other, quieted down and looked at the teacher with a familiar gaze. The school's unique system, in which all behaviour outside of class affected the evaluation of the class as a whole, had produced a serious and disciplined attitude amongst the students. It was not that anything had changed significantly in the last week, but I could certainly sense that they had grown a whole lot.

Seeing such an attitude among the students who continued to grow day by day, Chabashira-sensei nodded deeply and began to speak.

"I believe preparations are steadily progressing for the cultural festival, but I have some additional explanatory notes. First of all, I will once again display an overview of the festival as a review, so those who need to should check it." The monitor behind Chabashira-sensei lit up and the explanation of the rules reappeared.

[Outline of the Cultural Festival]

● Each second-year class is given 5,000 private points per student to be used solely for preparation of the festival. (First-year students receive 5,500

points and third-year students receive 4,500 points)

● Additional funds will be given for social contributions such as student council service and contributions through club activities.

● (Details will be announced to each class after they are finalized.)

● The initial allocation of private points and additional funds are not reflected in the final sales and will be forfeited if unused.

● Classes ranked 1st through 4th place will receive 100 class points.

● Classes ranked 5th through 8th will receive 50 class points.

● No change in class points for classes placed 9th through 12th

"That's all I've explained so far. You should have no problem understanding what's been said." Without a single question from the students, Chabashira-sensei continued with her explanation. "I would like to announce that the details of the 'additional funds' mentioned in this overview explanation have been decided."

Additional funds. The points that can be used for the festival would be increased based on student council service, social contributions, club activities, etc.

The time had come to announce the details.

The lack of a confirmed budget meant that the number, content, and scale of the performances could not be finalized. Despite the inconvenience, this was not a problem as long as all classes in all grades were under the same conditions.

"First of all, the total amount of additional funds to be given to this class, and the breakdown of the funds…"

As soon as she said that, Chabashira-sensei operated her tablet and a spreadsheet-based list was displayed. It turned out that a total of 12 people were eligible for these additional funds.

● Horikita Suzune, Student Council Member Bonus: 10,000 points

● Sudō Ken, Club Activity Bonus: 10,000 points

● Onodera Kayano, Club Activity Bonus:10,000 points Although 10,000 points was the maximum, only three students were able to earn that amount of additional funding. There were 9 other students who received hundreds to thousands of points in recognition of their contributions.

For example, Yōsuke received 3,000 points for his club activity bonus, and Akito received 100 points. Many students who seemed to be active, mainly in club activities, were mentioned.

In total, this class obtained 39,400 additional funds. In terms of number of people, these funds correspond to the initial points for almost 8 people. These funds would be essential for running the festival.

"I can't give you the breakdown, but Sakayanagi's Class A has 18,800. 17,000 points for Ryūen's Class C, and Ichinose's Class D has 26,600 in additional funds. In other words, this class has the most additional funds among the second-year students."

So, Ichinose's class was in second place and Sakayanagi's class was in third place - narrowly ahead of Ryūen's class. That was an unexpected result, but one factor could be the student council member bonus. The fact that both Horikita and Ichinose earned 10,000 points for their presence alone was pretty significant.

Other students, such as Sudō and Onodera, were considered to be head and shoulders above the rest in their contributions to club activities throughout the entire school year. Since individuals were not allowed to use any of their private points at the festival, in the case of Horikita's class, the total number of class members plus additional funds must be kept within 229,400. Every single point counts. However, we should not be too proud of this result.

Although advantageous in the preparatory stage before the start of the festival, additional funds would be a liability if they are not completely utilized by the end.

The above seems to be the explanation of additional funds, but it should not end there. Several pieces of information needed for the festival have not been made public.

"Now then, I'll explain some details about the guests who will be in attendance as this is an extremely important point for making sales."

How many and what kind of guests would be coming to the festival? And how much money they had has not been disclosed in detail so far.

"Guests of honor will be people who are involved in the operation of this school and their families, but of course there will be a wide range of ages, from the elderly to toddlers and elementary school students," she said. "It has also been decided that those who work at Keyaki Mall and convenience stores will also be invited as guests."

The tablet screen switched to a graph, revealing the number of guests by age.

Those in their 30s and 40s followed by those under 20 and those in their 50s.

"The adults are guests of honor and they receive 10,000 points. Minors receive 5,000 points. There are 283 adults and 202 minors. The total number of participants will be 485 in all, for a total sum of 3,840,000 points."

The ranking of all 12 classes for the entire school year would depend on whether or not we could make sales from the total amount.

"I should also mention that the number of participants includes us teachers.

Homeroom teachers are restricted to use points in the grade for which they are responsible, but they are treated no differently than other guests."

The rule that they couldn't use points on their own grade levels would be essential. As homeroom teachers, they would normally want to drop money on their own class if they could.

"Is it possible to use more than 10,000 points in pocket money?"

In response to Ike's question, Chabashira-sensei immediately shook her head. It was a preemptive question, as usual, and she answered without paying much attention. Although, she seemed to be enjoying such an unchanging Ike.

"No. The guests can't spend more than the given points. The maximum amount is immovable."

This means that the guests weren't provided with unlimited funds. It wasn't a matter of restricting certain rich guests, but it was inevitable that there would be a competition for them.

"The primary method of payment is through a special cell phone app which the school will use to monitor sales in real time. Keep in mind that the app will be disabled the moment the festival ends at 4 pm. You are free to set your own timing for the checkout, but we recommend that you receive payment before the products are served."

If you pay after eating for example, there would be cases where it would be around 4 p.m., so there would be a risk of not being able to collect the points.

"Now that we're done here, anyone with any questions, raise your hands."

A period of time was allowed for questions and remarks, and soon after, Horikita raised her hand.

"If the sales are the same amount, what would the ranking be? I know this is very extreme, but what happens if all classes receive the same amount of 320,000 and are side by side? "

If we based it solely on chance, the odds that all sales in all classes came out to be the same would be microscopic, but collusion among classes wouldn't be impossible. If all of them were treated as number one, they could equally raise their class points. However, I assumed that some countermeasures had been thought of....

"If the sales are equal, they are treated as the same rank. If all 12 classes make equal sales, as Horikita says, then all classes get 100 class points as first place."

Was this a somewhat lax rule, given that you don't lose class points even if you lose? No. Maybe they've determined from the start that a large number of classes won't be in line for the same percentage.

"However, the total amount of sales can only be confirmed after the exam, and any manipulation of sales by third parties is not allowed. It is impossible for the classes to discuss and make a plan to combine sales before the festival, or to

make an arrangement to divide the sales equally after the festival is over. You know what this means, right?"

If the amount of sales cannot be manipulated afterwards, it is unlikely that all classes would be in first place. More importantly, it is unlikely that they would join hands in a friendly manner, losing a valuable competitive opportunity.

"I don't think an equal number of sales among the classes would be normal. I don't think you need to worry about it." Not understanding the meaning of Horikita's question, Maezono voiced her doubts.

"As Maezono-san said, if it is a normal fight, there is no need to be concerned about it. But it's not a bad thing to know if it's accepted as a rule or not."

Horikita had a point. It's not a bad thing to know. It was unclear whether collusion is completely impossible within the current situation. For whatever reason, it was possible for certain grades or classes to collude with each other to create equal sales. There are several possible ways to do this, but if the final sales of the products were made to align among the classes in advance, it wouldn't be difficult to create a scenario in which all sold out products equated to the same sum of points. However, it was necessary to be prepared for betrayal, unforeseen circumstances, and trouble. It would be no laughing matter if you prioritized selling out above all else and as a result, ended up in the bottom of the class in terms of sales. The hurdles to overcome in order to intentionally create a tie are far, far higher than we can imagine.

"Does anyone have any other questions?"

No one raised a hand.

"That's all I have to say about the festival. Next, I would like to announce the results of the second semester midterm exam that we recently conducted. This time, there are students who achieved results that surprised even me."

The conversation moved on to the written exam and the announcement of its results. There were a few squeals from the students who weren't good at studying.

Depending on how you looked at it, "surprise" could be considered a bad thing.

However, given that Chabashira-sensei's expression wasn't dark or stiff, that seemed unlikely.

All at once, the names of the 38 students in the class were displayed, and they were lined up in order from the student with the highest overall score. Keisei took first place. He had a perfect score in all subjects. In second place was Horikita, only slightly behind. The difference in overall score was only 3 points.

The names of the usual honor roll students followed, but the student who surprised Chabashira-sensei was the one who placed 11th, no doubt.

Eleventh place, Sudō Ken. He scored 73 points in Modern Japanese, 76

points in Chemistry, 70 points in Social Studies, 78 points in Mathematics, and 70

points in English.

He scored a well-balanced total of 367 points in all subjects.

The top rankers from this group were honor students such as Yōsuke, Kushida, Matsushita, and Wang. That's why Sudō's ranking was a surprise to everyone.

It was a well-known fact that Sudō was working hard on his studies, but it was unexpected that Sudō, who was also involved in club activities that ran late into the day, would come in at the top of the list.

"Seriously, Ken is ranked 11th... Amazing..."

Ike, who was almost on the same side of the rankings, gave an honest, or rather, stunned response. A crazy turnaround, a leap beyond imagination. The difficulty level of this test was moderate, and the difference in overall score between Sudō and the bottom 20 was only about 15 points, but even so, this result must have surprised many people. Sudō himself should have been running around with joy, but he only made a small gut-punch and didn't seem to be bragging or making fun of others for passing them.

He checked his cell phone to look over the updated OAA.

[Ken Sudō: Academic ability C+, physical ability A+, adaptability C, social contribution D.]

Overall, his physical abilities were outstanding while maintaining a near-average level of academic ability. If he maintained his test scores, he should be able to achieve a B in academic ability in the near future. It seemed that his efforts over the past year had paid off in more ways than he could've imagined. He was also able to improve his social contribution skills from the lowest level to a D. He increased his OAA score as well.

My ranking was 14th. I got a perfect score in mathematics, but I slacked off in the other subjects. It would be fair to say that I cut corners, but in reality, I had a different goal in mind. Showing them a perfect score on the second semester midterm exam would only cause unnecessary confusion. Instead of reassuring them that there were students who could get high scores, it was many times more important to make them feel that they had to grow up and help the class, as Sudō did.

In fact, Sudō's 11th place result generated a wide range of emotions among his classmates.

Almost everyone was positive. While some students were in the top ranks, others were inevitably in the lower ranks. They were, for lack of a better word, the regulars, but when compared to the average scores of the other classes, it was clear that they were changing little by little. More and more students were trying to improve; and even though their scores were low, they seemed to be steadily and

gradually starting to show results. Of course, not all of them were as good as Sudō.

Even when it comes to studying, there are differences in the amount of information that can be absorbed, and there are also large differences in perseverance and physical strength.

Above all, in the case of Sudō, we must not forget that his motivation came from his love for Horikita, who taught him how to study.

Anyways, one could even say, due to the expulsion of Airi from the school, the lower ranked students started working even harder.